Down Under: Part 3

And on to our next adventure and possibly our favorite and the most beautiful days of our trip!

We woke up super early (like 3:30am - shoot me) to catch an early flight to Cairns in order to make the most of our day.  Who else hates wasting half their day traveling?!

Jane's mom was kind enough to pick us up from the airport and transported us to our first adventure of the day, the Kuranda Skyrail.

 Skyrail ready!

We had really been looking forward to do the Skyrail because we had heard so many great things about it.  It's a gondola type ride through the mountains and the rainforest.

 There are a few stops along the way where you can get out and walk around.  At the ride drops you in the little town of Kuranda.  Kuranda is full of cute little shops and a small zoo.  

The small zoo was Mister's favorite part because he was able to fulfill his biggest request of the trip...

to hold a koala.

 But first, look how cute these guys are!!

And now for quiet possibly the happiest moment in Mister's life...sans our wedding, or so he says ;)

Her name was Princess and she was adorable. And super sleepy.  

After shopping around Kuranda and picking up a few souvenirs, we headed back down the other side of the mountain on the Kuranda Scenic Railway train.

 The views from the train were incredible and it was thrilling to ride the train so close to the side of the mountain.

The next day was one we had been waiting for for awhile.

We took a boat out to the Great Barrier Reef to go snorkeling all day.

The ship, accommodations and crew were super nice.

 We were outfitted with stinger suits, snorkels and flippers, the whole nine yards.  

 I had never been snorkeling before and our guide was extremely patient and great at explaining the process.

To be honest, at first I hated not being able to breathe out of my nose and it TOTALLY freaked me out (i.e. I had a small panic attack).  But after some coaxing and coaching I got the hang of it.  And once I did, we were off to explore.  We were able to snorkel at 3 different spots along the Reef and they were all beyond amazing.  Unfortunately we didn't have an underwater camera and don't have too many pictures :(  Just take my word for it, the prettiest fishes you've ever seen in your life.

The colors and formations of the reefs were incredible and the fish were out of this world.  Everywhere you looked there were new fish with new colors.  I have so many new ideas for design projects and outfits just based on the color of the fish.  

Along with amazing fish we saw a turtle, a shark(!) and the boats resident dog like fish, Nigel a maori wrasse.  He was seriously the cutest fish and would swim up and everyone was able to pet him.  

And then we had a little bit of a tragic episode.

Mister and I were snorkeling our hearts away and came back to the boat to rest and were just sitting on the back of the boat watching everyone snorkel.  Mister looked down at his left hand and realized his wedding ring was gone :( We both looked at each other in shock and then knew it was a lost cause.  And then we just had to chuckle* because at least it's a good story to say you lost your ring in the Great Barrier Reef.  We decided he is forever married to the Reef and so we must go back soon!    

I think that because it's such a unique story our jeweler should just give us a new one for free.  Right?!

[*Mister's note: this isn't exactly a total summary. I don't think I "chuckled," per se. At least not at first. In fact, I think my thought process was more like 1) mouth-gaping, 2) profanity, 3) double-checking, 4) disbelief, 5) profanity, 6) looking around hurriedly and side to side, like that was going to make it magically appear. "oh hey, maybe I just sat it down over here... that thing I never take off. yeah, maybe I took it off and just don't remember. Silly me. I bet that's what it was. maybe it's under these flippers? definitely under these flippers." idiot. 7) dedicating ten to fifteen seconds to honestly thinking "I wonder if Nigel has it... like as some type of prank or joke or something," 8) I know this is covered under our homeowner's, 9) stupid deductible, 10) wait... it had diamonds in it, didn't it?  yeah... LOTS of dia--" (interrupted by flopping tourists, snaps back to reality)

 That evening we were zonked from swimming and being in the sun all day. We decided to just pick up a few Australian beers and a 'takeaway' (carry out) pizza and enjoyed a quiet evening dinner on the porch.  Later we headed up to Jane's parents beach house in Mission Beach.

As we got closer and closer to Mission Beach we saw tons and tons of wallabies (smaller than a kangaroo but looks similar).  At one point we passed a field with probably 50 standing around in a circle and 2 in the middle were fighting. Mister screamed "Wallaby Fight Club!" repeatedly. It was almost sad how excited he was about this.  Anyhow, next time you see a fictional picture of boxing kangaroos, you'll know it actually happens. 

Coming up tomorrow: how to catch a wallaby and spear fishing- not your normal Saturday activities.  

Linking up with Shanna!